Welcome to the Weekly Nintendo Corner! Every week as the weekend nears, Smashboards will be covering a title from the Nintendo pantheon. Most of the time, these are new releases or games that are coming soon, but do expect surprises – every once in a while, there may be a blast from the past.
Smash 64
This week’s topic is the 1999 Release Super Smash Bros., commonly called “Smash 64”. Super Smash Bros. was the first game in the series. Super Smash Bros. brings together a few characters from the Nintendo universe to duke it out.
Super Smash Bros., at the time, was different from other fighting games. Instead of using a bar, Smash Bros. uses a damage meter. When the percentage rises, the character can be knocked farther by an opposing player. The other major difference with Super Smash Bros. was four players; while not unique to Smash, several games afterwards proceeded in light of this
Premise in Development
Super Smash Bros. wasn’t always the game that started the series that’s known and loved today. In early development, it was called Dragon King: The Fighting Game with no pre-existing characters at all and was even drafted for the Super Nintendo. Development on it begun in about 1998.
Dragon King: The Fighting Game was later on transferred to the Nintendo 64 as heavily under budgeted; still made for a four player setting and still seen with the percentage footage of it. It lacked a lot of depth and was catered towards an arcade setting. Because of this, Masahiro Sakurai wanted to use a bunch of famous Nintendo characters and put them in a fight. He knew he couldn’t get permission directly, so he made a prototype with no informing until it was well balanced.
Not much is known about Dragon King: The Fighting Game before the premise of development. It’s only been mentioned a few times, and no prototype footage exists.
Super Smash Bros. was still low-budgeted and on one of the tightest game schedules ever produced, especially with the Nintendo GameCube coming into launch while the Nintendo 64 was being phased out. Somehow, in 1999, it still managed a January release in Japan!
Result
As a result of being rushed, a lot of content became thought of in the pipeline and wasn't able to be completed. Of these, we know for a fact that Bowser, Mewtwo, and King Dedede were all planned and had to be cut. Rumors, along with other evidence, discuss other characters but none known for certain.
Well the result of Super Smash Bros. was phenomenal, to say the least. With five million in sales, a powerful launch, modest reviews praising the Multiplayer, and even a community with tournaments starting up over the game (Smashboards.com - wait a second...), Super Smash Bros. was easily a success both financially and from community reception.
The game was such a success that its successor, Super Smash Bros. Melee, was quickly announced afterwards in development. Needless to say, it was one of the strongest launches for a series ever.
About the Team
HAL Laboratory developed the game while Nintendo published it. HAL Laboratory was founded in 1980 by Masayoshi Tanimura. The headquarters are located in Chiyoda-ku Tokyo in Japan with only two locations. The number of employees right now is currently 145. Along with the Super Smash Bros. series, they’re also responsible for Kirby, Mother, and various other video game titles.
Super Smash Bros. had Masahiro Sakurai on Directing with Hiroaki Suga, Satoru Iwata, Kenji Miki, and Shigeru Miyamoto all on production – Quite the talent even for a budgeted project.
Music
You didn’t expect this? Really?How to Obtain Smash 64
Super Smash Bros. 64 has jumped up in price by quite a lot. If you’re in looks for a copy of the original Nintendo 64 cartridge, now would be the time to jump on it. The loose price runs from about $58.91 with new copies being $299.99! Thankfully, there was also a Virtual Console release for 1000 Wii points. It’s only available on the original Wii shop, at the moment.
Fondest memory with Super Smash Bros.? Anyone who’s never played it before? What do you think of these Retro type articles? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to tune in the rest of the month for the other Smash Bros. games fair share of coverage!
Thethirdkoopa is a Game Producer, Collector, Musician, and Smash Fanatic at heart. He's back in action with daily articles and content planning and whatnot! He's had many fond memories with Smash 64; many of them were even his debut with gaming. Talk with him and follow him on Twitter at @Thirdkoopa
Smash 64
This week’s topic is the 1999 Release Super Smash Bros., commonly called “Smash 64”. Super Smash Bros. was the first game in the series. Super Smash Bros. brings together a few characters from the Nintendo universe to duke it out.
Super Smash Bros., at the time, was different from other fighting games. Instead of using a bar, Smash Bros. uses a damage meter. When the percentage rises, the character can be knocked farther by an opposing player. The other major difference with Super Smash Bros. was four players; while not unique to Smash, several games afterwards proceeded in light of this
Premise in Development
Super Smash Bros. wasn’t always the game that started the series that’s known and loved today. In early development, it was called Dragon King: The Fighting Game with no pre-existing characters at all and was even drafted for the Super Nintendo. Development on it begun in about 1998.
Dragon King: The Fighting Game was later on transferred to the Nintendo 64 as heavily under budgeted; still made for a four player setting and still seen with the percentage footage of it. It lacked a lot of depth and was catered towards an arcade setting. Because of this, Masahiro Sakurai wanted to use a bunch of famous Nintendo characters and put them in a fight. He knew he couldn’t get permission directly, so he made a prototype with no informing until it was well balanced.
Not much is known about Dragon King: The Fighting Game before the premise of development. It’s only been mentioned a few times, and no prototype footage exists.
Super Smash Bros. was still low-budgeted and on one of the tightest game schedules ever produced, especially with the Nintendo GameCube coming into launch while the Nintendo 64 was being phased out. Somehow, in 1999, it still managed a January release in Japan!
As a result of being rushed, a lot of content became thought of in the pipeline and wasn't able to be completed. Of these, we know for a fact that Bowser, Mewtwo, and King Dedede were all planned and had to be cut. Rumors, along with other evidence, discuss other characters but none known for certain.
Well the result of Super Smash Bros. was phenomenal, to say the least. With five million in sales, a powerful launch, modest reviews praising the Multiplayer, and even a community with tournaments starting up over the game (Smashboards.com - wait a second...), Super Smash Bros. was easily a success both financially and from community reception.
The game was such a success that its successor, Super Smash Bros. Melee, was quickly announced afterwards in development. Needless to say, it was one of the strongest launches for a series ever.
HAL Laboratory developed the game while Nintendo published it. HAL Laboratory was founded in 1980 by Masayoshi Tanimura. The headquarters are located in Chiyoda-ku Tokyo in Japan with only two locations. The number of employees right now is currently 145. Along with the Super Smash Bros. series, they’re also responsible for Kirby, Mother, and various other video game titles.
Super Smash Bros. had Masahiro Sakurai on Directing with Hiroaki Suga, Satoru Iwata, Kenji Miki, and Shigeru Miyamoto all on production – Quite the talent even for a budgeted project.
Music
Super Smash Bros. 64 has jumped up in price by quite a lot. If you’re in looks for a copy of the original Nintendo 64 cartridge, now would be the time to jump on it. The loose price runs from about $58.91 with new copies being $299.99! Thankfully, there was also a Virtual Console release for 1000 Wii points. It’s only available on the original Wii shop, at the moment.
Fondest memory with Super Smash Bros.? Anyone who’s never played it before? What do you think of these Retro type articles? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to tune in the rest of the month for the other Smash Bros. games fair share of coverage!
Thethirdkoopa is a Game Producer, Collector, Musician, and Smash Fanatic at heart. He's back in action with daily articles and content planning and whatnot! He's had many fond memories with Smash 64; many of them were even his debut with gaming. Talk with him and follow him on Twitter at @Thirdkoopa
Last edited: